1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical pliers and electrician's hand tools. More specifically, the present invention relates to a compound electrician's tool having several combined functions for eliminating the need for multiple tools or for successive tool switching between tasks.
Electricians and homeowners utilize several tools during household wiring or electrical installation activities. Generally the art of installing new wire routing, new electrical fixtures or installation electrical assemblies requires a plurality of tools that facilitate installation, fabrication, and electrical and structural assembly modification for the purposes of establishing electrical connectivity. These tools provide a mechanical advantage for operations such as insulated wire stripping, wire cutting, screw cutting and driving, hammering, forming solderless and soldered wire connections, as well as a plurality of other common electrical operations common to household electrical installations. Several tools require an electrician or homeowner to obtain and store several different tools, each of which being particularly suited for their given task. This further requires the user to continually switch tools between different operations, which increases the job time and the hassle of handling several different tool types for a given task, particularly for electrical operations wherein users generally operate in confined or enclosed areas making large tool trays inefficient to handle.
The present invention is a multipurpose electrician's plier tool having a plurality of imbedded functions. The tool comprises a first and second member attached to a common pivot location as commonly known in the art of pliers, a wiring stripping section, a shearing section, a cutting section, a gripping section, a wire bending section and finally a hammer head section. The hammer head section comprises a pair of laterally opposed planar striking surfaces along the working end of the plier members, whereby the tool can be utilized to drive or strike an object as would be customary with a hammer tool. The remaining sections include electrician tools that facilitate electrical assembly installation and electrical wire manipulation or fabrication.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Several multipurpose and compound tools have been disclosed in the art that relate to electrician hand tools for improving efficiency and reducing overall tool count for a given task requiring different operations. These tools have familiar design elements for the purpose of combining several functions into a singular tool, whereby tool count and tool switching is reduced. Devices of this type have been patented or disclosed in published patent applications. The patents deemed most relevant to the present disclosure are described below, whereby their key elements are discussed for the purposes of differentiating the present invention.
Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,297 to French is one such device that describes a multi-purpose electrician plier tool having a first and second pivotal member secured via a pivot pin connection. The pliers comprise several features that facilitate different electrician functions and fabrication features in a single tool. The tool includes planar wire splicing faces, wire cutter portions, wire crimping portions, a wire stripper portion, a fish tape engaging portion for gripping fish tape therebetween, and finally a pair of wire curl holes for forming terminal ends of bare wire. The handle portion of the device includes a pair of arcuate members in opposition to one another that allow the user to facilitate the different fabrication and modification functions of the tool using one hand. The French device describes a multi-function tool having several integral features for the purposes of improving electrician efficiency; however this device fails to include screw cutters and a hammer surface thereon, which are two common electrician functions that would otherwise require separate tools.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,654,647 to Neff is another device that discloses a combination wire working hand tool for electrical wiring that combines gripping, pulling, cutting, stripping and crimping operations into a single tool. The tool comprises a needle-nose plier jaws that includes a solderless electrical terminal crimping orifice, cutter blades, and a plurality of stripping orifices for stripping insulated wires. The Neff device provides an electrician's hand tool having several features that facilitate fabrication and installation of electrical installations. However, no hammering surface or screw cutting orifices are provided. The structure and tasks for which the present invention are directed diverge from the Neff device, wherein the Neff device is a needle-nose plier assembly having differing elements.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,947,905 also to Neff describes a multi-purpose hand tool that combines gripping, pulling, bending, cutting, stripping, crimping and shearing operations into a single tool. The '905 Neff device provides a needle-nose plier configuration that includes alignable fastener shearing orifices that allow for trimming fastener lengths, an arcuate inner crimping portion, wire stripping orifices, a wire cutting portion and finally a gripping distal portion. Similar to the '647 Neff device, the '905 Neff device employs a plurality of tool operations adapted for use by an electrician or home repair user that reduces overall tool count and switching tools between operations. The present invention provides a similarly featured hand tool, while also including a means to impact an article with a hammer surface. The combination of elements for the present invention, and its unique layout are divergent from the Neff devices, which provide needle-nose pliers having differing functions.
Further, U.S. Published Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0188468 to Crawford discloses multi-functional pliers of similar type to the Neff and French disclosures, wherein the pliers employ a plurality of imbedded tools to facilitate electrical wiring installation and fabrication. These imbedded tools include a wire cutting tool, stripping tool, and a wire bending tool, wherein the tools are provided in several different embodiments. As with the previous prior art devices, no hammering surface is provided or fastener shearing tool, as is provided in the present invention.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,248 Trombetta discloses an electrician hand tool having a first and second member pivotally connect to one another at a common pivot location. The tool combines cutter blades for cutting and stripping electrical wiring, along with an outwardly transverse extension terminating in a hammer head extending laterally from the handle portion of the tool. Opposite of the hammer head is an extension having a pivotable knife blade for opening packaging, general cutting and plastic sheath cutting. The hammer head of the Trombetta device extends outwardly from the plier tool forming a hammer neck, poll and hammer face of a traditional hammer head. This creates considerable weight along one side of the tool, wherein the hammer head is comprised of a dense or hardened material adapted for striking an article. The present invention provides a hammering surface along its lateral sides; however the present invention does not offset the weight of the overall tool to achieve this end. The hammering surface is one of hardened and planar material that is particularly suited for controlled strikes against a nail or similar article adapted to receive the impact energy. The present invention provides a more compact and efficient hammering surface without compromising the weight distribution of the tool or its aesthetics, wherein the Trombetta device may suffer from clearance and handling issues in tight spaces due to its oversized and outwardly projecting working end.
The present invention provides a combination hammer tool and electrician utility tool, whereby striking functions and electrical installation functions can be accomplished utilizing a single tool. This allows a user to utilize the tool as both a striking tool and electrician's plier without tool switching or carrying extra tools to a job site. The hammer head section comprises two laterally opposed strike faces having a hardened segment of material and additional mass to facilitate striking with the plier tool in confined spaces and without utilizing a much larger and more cumbersome hammer tool. The positioning of the hammer strike faces does not upset the lateral weight balance of the tool or overly extend one side, which allows the tool to remain compact for entering more confined areas and improving user handling of the device. The structure and combination of a hammer strike surface with an electrician's utility plier tool is substantially divergent in design elements from the prior art, and consequently it is clear that there is a need in the art for an improvement to existing multipurpose electrician plier tool devices. In this regard the instant invention substantially fulfills these needs.